Facades
by ChiaroscuroXVII
Summary: As the threat of the Dark Lord grows, things are not all as they seem within the Order of the Phoenix. Secrets and truths will out. RLMM Romance.
1. Chapter 1

**Yay new story, new fandom. I was reading OotP (the book in which this story is set) and this pairing has always intrigued me. Anyways, this rated for later chapters, please enjoy!**

She was wet, cold, hungry, and so tired she couldn't see straight. All she really wanted was to go home and curl up in her warm bed and sleep for a few days. Instead her sense of duty and loyalty over ran her needs and she found herself standing in the grimy foyer of the Order's headquarters wincing at the crashing sounds coming from the kitchen and Tonk's continuous stream of apologies. She was reluctant to enter despite the warmth and the smell of cooking food.

Remus Lupin hurried out of the kitchen, trying to escape the heat and the noise and looked extremely relieved to see her standing there. "Professor McGonagall, it's good to see you," he said, coming forward to help her with her drenched cloak.

"Remus, please, I am no longer your teacher or colleague, you can call me Minerva," she said in a tart voice, too tired to bother with pleasantries or even common courtesy it seemed.

Remus hid his blush by turning in the direction of the coatroom, her sodden cloak in his hands. "Sorry about that," he said with forced cheer in his voice. "Old habits and all that."

She sighed, now she had to soothe his ruffled feathers, "I'm sorry Remus, I don't mean to snap. It has been a long…" she trailed off as she staggered, suddenly dizzy.

"Are you alright?" he was suddenly back at her side with his hand on her elbow to steady her, his voice laced with concern.

"Yes. I am fine," she snapped. And promptly fainted.

Lupin was fast enough to catch her before she hit the ground and now as he stared down at her pale face, he was amazed. She had never shown any sort of weakness before, never one crack in her severe facade.

He stood in the dark hallway, her thin, limp body cradled in his arms, at a loss as to what to do. Warm orange light and the chatter of voices seeped through the crack underneath the door and Remus took a few steps in that direction, wondering if he should ask for help. Then he remembered just who he held in his arms and how much she liked her privacy.

With the children home on Christmas holiday, they were over crowed as it was. He supposed he could put her on the couch in the study- a room that Molly and the children had tackled a few days previous- but he knew for a fact that sleeping on those small couches was uncomfortable as it looked. He would have to put her in his own room because with Buckbeak having taken up residence in the only remaining guest room, there was really nowhere else to take her.

Decision made, he moved down the hall and up the stairs, careful not to jostle the exhausted woman in his arms. He kicked open his bedroom door with his foot and winced at the clattering sound it made as it bounced off the wall. Minerva, still out cold, didn't even twitch.

Ever so carefully, Remus laid her on the bed. His hands hovered over the clasp of her robes, knowing this wasn't exactly appropriate, but figured that he would rather suffer a dressing down tomorrow morning then watch her suffer through a cold. Gently he rolled her on her side to pull the soaked material off her, wondering want exactly she had been doing to end up so saturated. The boom of thunder answered that question and a quick glance out the window told him that it was pouring outside.

He quickly turned his back on the semi-naked professor lying in his bed and busied himself with hanging up her robes so that they may properly dry. As he went to draw the thick drapes across the windows to block the noise of the rain pounding against the window panes, he noticed a glow out of the corner of his eye.

Swiftly he twirled, plunging his hand in to the pocket of his robe in search of his wand. He paused when he noticed that the glow seemed to coming from the woman on the bed. Worried that this might be a killing spell sent by a death eater or something along those lines, he took a few steps towards the bed, running through a list of spells that could be used to banish the light. He pulled up short when he saw what the soft white-blue light was actually doing.

It was if time was reversing itself. He had always thought Minerva to be in her late sixties, but now he watched fascinated as the wrinkles shrunk in on themselves, flesh delicately firmed in places and softened in others, and the small signs of old age disappeared. The glow faded around the body of a woman who couldn't have been a day over thirty. And still she slept on, oblivious to the changes she had undergone.

A knock on the door startled him from his reverie.

"Remus? Are you in there?" Molly Weasley called through the door.

With another glance at Minerva, he crossed the room to the door. "What is it Molly?" he asked not unkindly, opening the door only enough to wedge his body in the gap and block the view into the room.

Molly eyed him, slightly suspicious at his odd behavior. "Is everything alright?"

Remus ran a hand through his longish hair that was in desperate need of a haircut. "Yes, of course, you startled me is all."

Mrs. Weasley gave him a small smile of understanding. There were hard times and everyone jumped at shadows. "It's alright love, come down when you're ready, dinner is on the table." That said, she bustled off down the stairs.

Lupin was careful to shut the door behind him. He stole another glance at the woman, but she hadn't stirred. Swiftly he pulled off his robes and rummaged through the wardrobe looking for a clean set. He found some that didn't look to ratty and pulled them on.

He still didn't know what to do about the transfiguration professor- if that was even who she was. Still he couldn't just leave her lying in nothing but her lacey emerald bra and matching panties, her pale skin pebbling in the cold air.

Going back to the wardrobe, he routed around until he came across a slightly holey blanket, but none the less, thick and warm. He draped it over Minerva then charmed it to keep her sleeping.

Before he left, he placed silent alarm spells about the room, if she tried to leave, he would know. He tapped the doorknob, heard the lock click and walked downstairs to the kitchen, suddenly weary.

X*X*X*X

Remus was distracted throughout dinner and the meeting that followed. He hardly tasted his food and barely uttered a word. Luckily he had been cooped up at Grimauld Place with Sirius the past few days and had nothing new to report, except perhaps that he was beginning to relate to the stircrazyness that his old friend was feeling. Every time he tried to focus back on the meeting, no doubt important things were being said, his mind jumped back to the raven-haired beauty sleeping upstairs.

It wasn't until the meeting was drawing to a close, an hour past midnight, when someone noticed that McGonagall was missing.

"Where is Professor McGonagall?" Alsator Moody asked in his rough, gravelly voice.

Lupin looked up from the spoon he was fiddling with, alarmed. Then he glanced around guility to see if anyone noticed his suspicious movement. No one had. They were all looking around the table as if Minerva would appear among them at any moment.

"Maybe her assignment for Dumbledor carried on longer than we anticipated," Lupin said, trying to act as if he had no idea where the professor was.

Others at the table murmured their agreement and a few voiced heartfelt concerns for her well being and then the subject was dropped as people gathered their things and straggled out the door to catch a few hours of sleep.

Remus saw Molly eyeing him again and knew that his silence at the table had not gone unnoticed. He quickly made his escape back upstairs, pleading a headache to Sirius who merely grunted at him.

"Lumos," he whispered to the darkness of his room and the soft light from the tip of his wand illuminated the shadows.

Her hair had worked free of the pins that normally held it in a tight bun, and her rich black hair spread across the plain pillows. She had burrowed deeper beneath the blanket so only her nose and forehead showed. Lupin paused at the bedside and considered waking her up to talk. But he was so tired himself, his eyes scratchy and red.

He pulled on a pair of striped pajama bottoms and pulled back the covers of the bed and slipping beneath them, leaving Minerva on top. He was asleep before he could register the softness of his pillow.


	2. Chapter 2

**I sat down this weekend and pounded this out so it may be a little rough around the edges. I had fun writing the animosity between cat and dog. Its unbetaed so I am sorry for any grammatical errors, it shouldn't detract from the story. Please review, but more importantly, enjoy.**

Minerva hadn't felt this rested in years. She moved closer to the warmth at her side, reluctant to open her eyes and start the day just yet. She froze in surprise when her head met the bare skin of a man's chest rather than the pillow she had been expecting. What the hell was a man doing in her bed? She certainly didn't remember allowing one into her bed last night, in fact she couldn't remember going to bed at all last night. The last thing she did remember was standing on the doorstep of Grimauld Place, drenched to the bone.

Slowing she opened her eyes, blinking at the bright sunlight that slipped through the cracks around the heavy draperies, highlighting the dust motes dancing on the air. Her sharp eyes took in the unfamiliar room and she realized she never made it home last night.

Filled with apprehension, she turned to look at her bedmate. He was half turned away from her, bed sheets bunched low around his hips, revealing the top of her blue and white stripped pajama bottoms.

'At least he wasn't naked,' she thought to herself, not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed. Relieved because men usually didn't bother to pull pants on after sleeping with her, and disappointed because if the low half of him was as well defined as the upper portion, then she really wouldn't mind sleeping with him. A flash of heat ran through her veins and gathered in her core at these thoughts. Damn she needed to get laid.

The man's slightly curly brown hair had flopped over his eyes, covering his face from her. As she reached to brush it back and reveal his identity, she noticed her hand. Her youthful looking hand.

"Oh Shit," she cursed out loud, quickly snatching her hand back. But it was too late. The man sat straight up in bed, her words startling him into instant wakefulness. Big green eyes met sleepy gray ones and Minerva would have never guessed that the man sleeping next to her was Remus Lupin.

Both either could say a word, a loud pounding started up against the door, making it rattle in its frame.

"Remus you better be up you lazy bones!" Sirius hollered through the door.

Lupin and McGonagall stared at one another for a moment longer until the sound of door unlocking brought them back to their senses. "You better…" before he could even finish his sentence, she had stretched out and morphed gracefully into her cat form, "hide," he finished weakly. "I guess that works too," he said as she glared up at him, no less intimidating in this form then her human one.

"Oh just make yourself at home," Lupin grumbled at his friend as he walked into the room.

"This is my home," Black pointed out, "And what are you doing still in bed? Its nearly ten."

"I'm tired," Remus defended.

Sirius stopped short when he saw Lupin's bedmate. "What's with the cat?" he barked. Ever since he became a dog animagi, he and cats did not get along. As if Minerva could sense his feelings, she hissed at him causing Black to bare his teeth in response.

"Um, she must be the mouser Molly brought from the Burrow, said she kept seeing them in the kitchen." Remus put his hand on her body, petting her with a heavy hand to keep her from stalking off, indignant at being called a mouser. He had too many questions to allow her to just stalk off.

"Huh," Black grunted, "Just keep it away from me and Buckbeak or it may end up being someone's dinner." The cat hissed at him again as if she could understand his words. "Anyways," he continued on, never taking his eyes off the cat, "everyone else is up. Molly wants to tackle the master bedroom today, she says we need more sleeping space with everyone staying here over the holidays. We could use your help."

"Sure thing. Just let me clean up and grab a spot to eat."

Sirius Black nodded and gave one more glare at the cat before leaving, not caring when the door slammed behind him.

Remus blinked after his friend and when he turned back to his female guest, she was back in her human form, sheet clutched to her breast to preserve what was left of her modesty.

"What am I doing in your bed?" she demanded, voice tight with anger, "This is your bed I presume?"

Remus nodded, dumb struck that she would be asking the questions when he was boiling over with ones for her.

"Well speak up. What am I doing here?"

"You, um, you passed out last night in the foyer. I carried you up here and took off your robes. They were soaked through and I didn't want you to get sick," he blushed faintly under her glare that was no less powerful on her youthful face.

The glare softened somewhat at his words, but her words were no less cold. "And then fell asleep besides me? Why not just put me in a guest room?"

"Its Christmas holidays. Everyone is here."

She nodded and moved to get out of the bed. "I won't keep you any longer. Thank you for taking care of me last night."

Remus lunged forward and grabbed her wrist. "Oh no, I don't think so. You are not leaving this bed until you answer my questions."

Minerva turned her face away and struggled futilely to free herself from his strong grasp. "I have nothing to say to you."

"I think you do. I think you owe me an explanation as to why you hide your youth."

"I think not," she tried again to get away, but Lupin was ready for it and pulled her back on the bed with more force than either expected. Minerva landed on his broad, warm chest and Remus's hands instinctively went to her waist to steady her.

She caught a whiff of his scent- musky, masculine, and a hint of spicy canine- and her emerald green eyes darkened to a deep jade as lust coursed through her body. Her hands slid up his chest and around his neck to play with his hair. Lupin watched, fascinated by her sensuous beauty, unable or unwilling to move and break the spell.

She licked her lips and shifted her hips, feeling wetness gathering between her legs. She was going to kiss him. Remus hissed in pleasure as her movements caused her to brush against his growing erection and the sound caused Minerva to freeze, her lips inches from his. Her warm breath ghosted over his lips and Remus closed his eyes in anticipation of a kiss that never came.

Instead she pulled herself away from him, and escaped into his bathroom, snagging her now dry robes from the back of a chair as she went. The slam of the bathroom door brought Remus out of his lust filled haze. He sat up and stared about the room still dazed, running a shaky hand though his hair in a nervous habit.

In the bathroom, Minerva stood under the icy spray of the shower, trembling against the heat running through her body. This was not good. Not good at all. She cursed to herself as the ache in her core refused to diminish.

She stepped out just as the water was beginning to warm and roughly wiped away the tiny water droplets that clung to her skin. Fetching her wand from her robe pocket, she waved it over her underwear lying in a pile by the door, transfiguring it into a clean set of matching black. Pulling them on, she caught sight of herself in the mirror. The black offset her creamy, pale skin and she felt a certain reluctance to cast the spell that made her go back to looking like an aging matron.

She was gathering up her long silky hair when Remus walked in. He stopped, hand still on the doorknob and stared at her, eyes nearly popping out of his head. "Do you always wear such… sexy undergarments?" he asked.

"Yes. Now get out," she answered calmly.

Obediently, Lupin backed out, pulling the door shut in his wake.

When she walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later, Remus was sitting on the bed clad in disheveled, yet clean robes. Her hair was up in her normal strict bun, square glasses perched on her nose, and high necked robes not giving a hint of the curvy figure Remus now knew was beneath. The only thing wrong with this image was she still looked young.

"You're not planning on going out there looking like that, are you?" he asked as she strode towards the door, trying to ignore him.

"Looking like what?" she wondered, clenching her hands into fists to avoid reaching up to touch her hair.

"Like you are thirty."

Minerva frowned, "I cast the glamour. I look sixty-five."

"No you don't."

She turned to face him, shock in her eyes, "Oh shit. You can see past my glamour. This is not good at all."

"Does this mean you are going to explain?"

"I don't think I have a choice now."


	3. Chapter 3

**Finally finished another chapter. I stopped writing for a short while beacuse I was obsessing over this drawing I was working on and I wanted to finish it before Valentine's day so I could hang it on my door (it was of Venus and Cupid and I'm pretty sure most people on my floor don't get it) but I did get it done, so I started writing again instead of study for Latin or Greek or Art History like I should be doing right now. Enjoy this please, and like most things I write I have very little clue as to where this is going. (Reviews are love) **

"I was cursed."

Remus stared.

"With longevity."

"Yes. I can see how looking 30 when you are supposed to be 70 is a curse."

Minerva raised an eyebrow at him, "I was born in 1482."

Remus's jaw dropped. "You were born during the High Renaissance?" he asked incredulously.

"Like I said, I was cursed. They were really into those when I was growing up."

Remus opened his mouth to ask another question, but Minerva cut him off," I am sure you are brimming full of questions, but now is not the time. Mr. Black is going to come looking for you soon, wondering where you are and there are places I need to be. I will be back here tonight for the Order meeting, we can talk afterwards."

Lupin nodded mutely and watched her as she opened his door only just enough to slip through in her cat form and trotted off down the hallway.

X*X*X*X

Remus was distracted for the rest of the day. He could not take his mind off what had happened the night before and the conversation this morning. Over and over he played it in his mind, often catching himself staring off into space.

One time he was brought back to himself by Sirius shouting his name.

"What Sirius?" Lupin asked irritably, "You don't have to shout. I'm standing right next to you."

"I've been calling your name for the past two minutes."

"No you haven't."

Black gave him a look, "I don't know what your problem is today but you're acting very strange. First this morning and now you have been staring out that window for the past five minutes, not paying attention to anything going on around you."

Remus opened his mouth to protest, but closed it again when he saw the look on his old friend's face. Instead he sighed, "I'm sorry my friend, I have a lot on my mind today it seems."

"Wanna talk about it?" Sirius asked somewhat awkwardly.

Remus grinned at him, "Have a serious conversation with you Black? I didn't know it was possible!"

Sirius clapped him on the back, "Of course not Moony! What made you think I'd actually pay any attention to what you had to say? Never did before."

Lupin chuckled as he allowed Black to lead him into the kitchen for lunch, thinking that Padfoot would listen if he knew the things Lupin now did.

X*X*X*X

The Order meeting was duller than normal. Or maybe it was just him, but Lupin couldn't wait for it to be over for once. He kept sneaking glances at McGonagall who was sitting across the table and a few seats down.

Minerva for her part kept her attention on the speaker. She could feel Remus's eyes on her but she refused to look up and meet his burning gaze. She knew as so as the Order meeting was over, he was going to corner her and demand the full explanation. She didn't want to explain. Explaining drudged up bad memories best left in the past.

Yet she let none of this show on her face. Her expression was perfectly bland as Severus wrapped up his latest report. As the other Phoenix members stirred and chatter and clattering chairs filled the silence, Minerva coolly turned her head to meet Lupin's stare. The werewolf blushed red to be caught staring but didn't drop his gaze. She gave him a small smile that didn't reach her eyes as she rose from her seat and swept out of the room.

Lupin hurried to follow half afraid that if he let her out of his sight, he would never see her like this again. The corridor was silent; Mrs. Black yet to start her screams that usually accompanied the Order members out the door. She wasn't there. Lupin spun in a circle, searching for the flicker of her black robe or the shadow of a tabby cat.

He let out a yelp when a thin, but surprisingly strong hand grabbed him by the arm and pulled him in to the darkened doorway of the cloak room. A rumpled piece of paper was thrust into his hands.

"If you want to talk, I not doing it here," Minerva hissed, "Make your excuses and apperate to the address on that paper. I will be staying there tonight." That being said, she nodded to some of the Order members who had come down the hall in search of their cloaks, and slipped out the front door.

Frowning, Remus looked at the battered slip of paper, wondering at Minerva's strange, secretive behavior. Before he could smooth it out to see where he would be apperating to later that night – not going was out of the question- Sirius hollered at him.

"Hey Remus, Mad Eye, Dung and I are heading into the parlor for a drink, what do you want?"

Unfortunately Sirius's shouts awakened the slumbering portrait. The moldy velvet curtains flew apart as the irate Black matron began her rant, "FILTH IS IN MY NOBLE ESTATE!" Remus and Sirius hurried to pull the curtain closed, "YOU TRAITOR SON ARE A DISGRACE TO THE BLACK NAME. HOBNOBBING WITH SQUIBS AND MUD BLOOD LOVERS! IF I WASN'T ALREADY DEAD-" They got the curtain closed once more, both men panting from the task.

"Thank God she is dead," Sirius muttered darkly, "Otherwise I would've killed her myself. Now I really need that drink. You coming?" he asked his old friend as he walked back to the kitchen.

"I've got to go out."

Sirius stopped at looked back at Lupin, "Out? Where you going out too? You haven't been out for the past two weeks."

"Ah…um… yes well Minerva asked me to help her with something."

"Minerva? As in Minerva McGonagall? What does that old maid want you for?"

Remus shrugged, trying to act casual, "I don't know, she didn't say. Something about helping her with her mission for Dumbledore."

"That's so strange," Sirius said.

Remus grinned uneasily, "Yeah it's odd."

"You got time for a quick drink? You'll probably need it to deal with professor ice queen."

Lupin nodded slowly, clearly hesitant about something, "Yeah one drink might do me good."

Sirius clapped him on the shoulder and led him into the front parlor. "Sit," he ordered, "If it wasn't important enough to tell you what she wants you for, than it's not important for you to be right on time."

"What's not important?" Mundungus asked from his chair in front of the fire, a near empty bottle of firewhiskey on the table end besides him.

"Crusty, old McGonagall wants Remus for something," Sirius called out, soundly almost gleeful that Remus had caught her attention, something Sirius himself went out his way to avoid back when he was in school.

Lupin took the offered glass of firewhiskey but merely stared at it as his friends chattered around him. He somehow doubted Minerva would appreciate it if he showed up at her door with alcohol on his breath.

"She is Dumbledore's right hand man so to speak. Whatever she wants him for, it must be important," Mad Eye Moody said, noticing Lupin's discomfort at his friend's ribbing.

Sirius shrugged, already bored with the subject. He was already on his second glass of whiskey and well on his way to being three sheets to the wind. Lupin was glad he was leaving, a drunk Sirius is never a good thing. He still has nightmares from James's bachelor party.

Remus set down his glass on the coffee table, full of his untouched whiskey and stood up. "I need to be off. It wouldn't do for me to be too late."

Sirius frowned, the alcohol already impairing his senses, "But you just sat down."

"Yes I know, but it really wouldn't do for me to keep McGonagall waiting." Moody nodded at him in understanding and Mundungus just blinked blearily at him. "Yes, well, goodnight," he said somewhat awkwardly and left.

Remus let himself out the front door of number twelve Grimmauld Place with an inaudible sigh of relief. He squinted down at the slip of paper in his hand, trying to make out the address in the gloomy light.

He hope he got it right as he turned on his heel as disappeared from the stoop of the London townhouse with a loud pop.


	4. Chapter 4

**Horray! Another chapter! I wrote it in one go at work today because I was very very bored and needed to look busy. So please enjoy my productivity!**

Lupin couldn't see very far in the thick fog that surrounded him, but his keen wolf senses picked up a trace of lilac on the heavy, wet air – Minerva's scent. He stepped forward, following the trace of smell and crashed painfully over a low stone wall he did not see in the gloom.

"Ouch!" he yelped, rubbing his sore shins.

"Sorry about that, I should have probably given you a warning. These ruins are not the safest ones around." A pale hand appeared out of the darkness in front of Remus's face to help him to his feet. He took it gratefully and scrambled up to find himself face to face with the still young looking Minerva McGonagall.

"Ruins? Where are we?"

"Come," she tugged on his hand she was still holding, "We are at a place I once called home."

"You lived here? I hope it was in better shape then this when you did," he joked lightly, squinting to make out the remains of what was once a formidable castle.

Minerva ignored him, concentrating on picking her way through the heaps of rubble and grass covered foundations still pulling Lupin along. "Watch your head," she warned, ducking under a low stone arch that had been a small side entrance to the keep.

"Why did you bring me here?" Remus asked, following her down a worn stone spiral staircase that led into the dark earth.

Minerva stopped suddenly and Remus crashed into her back. She didn't answer him and he wondered if she had not heard the question or if she was just ignoring him. He was betting on the later and was about to ask her again but the hiss of a torch catching light and spreading a warm orange glow around them stopped his words. She looked up at him, the fire playing over her features and dancing in her bright eyes, Remus was transfixed.

"I come here to be alone, no one can ever find me here. We will be able to talk freely, with the knowledge that not a soul, living or dead, is listening in." That being said, she turned and touched the torch to the wall causing a chain reaction of torches to flare to life one by one to reveal an arched corridor. "This way," she was tugging on his arm again, pulling him down the loggia after placing her torch in an iron bracket.

Remus looked around, fascinated by the finely carved figures that seemed to leap out of the friezes above each arch and the still bright colors of the frescos that decorated the right wall.

"This looks Roman, like something that survived Pompeii," he remarked, wishing to stop and examine everything in finer detail.

"Yes," Minerva replied, pulling on his arm to keep him moving down the hallway, "My ancestors built their castle on top of an ancient Roman temple."

"A temple to who?"

She looked back at him, lips twitching in a small smile, "Minerva, goddess of war and wisdom."

"It's fascinating," he whispered in awe.

"It is," she agreed, still leading him further into the temple. "This was once an open air loggia that leads up to the main temple. Only after many of the minor temples and buildings surrounding the main one were badly damaged or destroyed during various clan wars, was it decided to bury it beneath the earth to preserve what was left." She stopped them at the end of the hallway, just inside the circle of light, leaving them staring at two giant columns bordering eerie darkness.

"What's in there?" he asked.

"That is the main temple."

"We aren't going in?"

"Only the high priestesses were allowed inside and even though my kin never worshipped the goddess, it did not mean they did not respect other's beliefs."

"We can't even look?" Lupin tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice and did not quiet succeed.

"There is not much left to see, but if you wish." Minerva grabbed a torch from the wall and stepped towards the inky blackness, Remus right at her heels. She took only a few stepped and Remus wondered why she stopped before noticing the water lapping inches from her feet.

"Not long after my ancestors buried the temple, the Roman aqueduct that supplied the castle and village with water broke, flooding the land for miles around. To save the crops and livestock, they diverted the water down here into the cavern and consequently flooded what they were trying to save. Over time it became like an underground dam and worked better then the old aqueduct system at supplying the villages and fields of my family's lands with water. And our enemies could never figure out why they could never defeat us during a siege." Cocking her arm back, she hurdled the torch out into the blackness.

As it flipped end over end, Lupin caught glimpses of glittering black water that lapped up against and around mighty Corinthian columns that bordered the massive hall. And as the torch plunged back down towards the water, it illuminated the head and torso of a colossal marble statue standing about waist high in the water. A soldier's helmet sat on top of carefully drilled curls that fell around a pale, cold face with blank eyes, down to the top her breastplate that was decorated with the frozen face of Medusa. Her hand rose out of the water to grasp a tall spear whose tip shone with gold plating. The hiss of the torch dying echoed loudly throughout the chamber and darkness enveloped the ancient woman warrior once more.

"Come on," Minerva shook the werewolf out of his daze, "While I don't think the torch is enough to disturb the spirits of this place, I don't want to wait around to find out." She turned left down a corridor that Remus hadn't noticed and began down it at a brisker pace.

"What spirits?" he asked, hurrying to catch up.

"Do you always ask so many questions?" she asked with amused exasperation in her voice.

"Yes," he said shortly, "What spirits?"

"An old family legend my grandparents would enjoy telling the children. My grandmother would say the spirits of the virgin priestesses still honor the old goddess but my grandfather would insist it was the souls of our kin who died honorably in battle." She shrugged, "No one really knows."

They walked on in silence, Remus staring at McGonagall's back, absorbing everything she told him and burning with more questions and having to bite his tongue to keep from voicing them aloud. He figured that when they got to wherever they were going to, she would tell him what he needed to know and it would be no good to begin bothering her now. Minerva McGonagall was a woman you did not rush. Looking to the right he noticed instead of frescos between the archways, they had been replaced with heavy ornate doors.

"Where do these doors lead?"

"Those are just old storerooms. Some are booby trapped in case any enemies ever did find their way down here, a few hold some family heirlooms, but most are empty. Here we are." She stopped in front of a door that looked just like all the others that lined the hallway. Gently she ran her fingers over a crest that was carved into the center. Remus tried to make out the symbols but it was to worn from countless hands passing over it throughout the eras.

Golden lines of light started from each of the four corners of the door and wound their way through the carvings to meet in the center, causing the crest to glow under the professor's hands. The lines faded away as the doors split apart silently and both witch and wizard stepped through.

Lupin was surprised to say the least. A cozy sitting room with a fire already crackling merrily in the hearth was not what he expected at all. Minerva had to laugh at the look on his face as she discarded her cloak over the back of a comfy looking armchair.

"What were expecting? An antiquity garden? A library filled with musty books and decaying scrolls? Or perhaps the family burial chambers?"

"Yes," he blurted out, watching her make herself comfortable on the loveseat.

"I'm sorry to disappoint," she said with a laugh, "But I thought we would be more comfortable here. The garden is overgrown, the library is cold and drafty, and the bones of my ancestors aren't the most comfortable things to sit on."

Remus stared at her, he couldn't help it. He had never seen her look so relaxed and happy before. During their journey down here, her hair had loosened from its tight knot and wisps of it curled down the sides of her face and neck, framing her big green eyes she usually had hide behind plain square spectacles. Her robes were open at her throat and he followed the pale column down to where he could see just a hint of cleavage. The soft green material molded around the curve of her breasts and hips giving him a taste of the womanly figure he knew what beneath. In a word she was gorgeous.

"What?" she asked, noticing his stare.

Remus fought the blush rising to his cheeks upon getting caught checking her out. "Those aren't your usual robes," he covered.

"Of course not," she waved a hand dismissively, "I wouldn't want to get my teaching robes all dirty walking around this grimy old place." With her wand she conjured a tea pot and cups. "I'm assuming you'll be wanting some tea."

"Actually I could do with something stronger," Lupin said hesitantly, "That is if you have anything."

Again she gave him that small smile and rose from her chair. "Would you prefer wine or scotch?" she asked moving towards a large cabinet in the far corner of the room.

"Wine sounds lovely."

Returning to her seat, she placed a bottle of red wine on the low coffee table and efficiently transfigured the tea cups into crystal wine glasses. She handed a glass of the ruby liquid to him before settling back in her seat, tucking her legs beneath her and cradling her own wine in her hands.

Looking at him over the gold trimmed rim she asked, "Where would you like me to begin?"

**A/N: In case you can't tell I really like classical art and architecture. I guess it comes from being a history/art history major. I hope I didn't go too over board in the desciptions but I couldnt help myself, I just got really excited!**


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